Explore situations in which it is possible to achieve extended distances with structured cabling, and pivot away from short-term fixes into long-term, sustainable solutions.
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Excerpt:
Educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and enterprise-level businesses face an increasingly common conundrum. With the expansion and standardization of Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure across industries, these organizations have found themselves pushing the limits of what a typical copper structured cabling system can accommodate. The gold standard for performance and quality remains at 100 m; however, these organizations have often found themselves needing to extend their connectivity beyond this standard distance.
IoT-connected systems like occupancy sensors, smart thermostats, and air quality monitoring devices are being implemented throughout these organizations’ facilities – and occasionally, these devices are located more than 100 m from the building’s telecommunications room. More commonly, IP security cameras and Wi-Fi access points are placed on the exterior of facilities or in outdoor areas like fields and parking lots where no remote enclosures exist and AC power is inaccessible. Attempts to connect these devices within a typical structured cabling framework are limited in success, as the overextension results in high error rates, poor performance, and frequent interruptions.
Installing some devices more than 100 m from a telecommunications room (TR) is sometimes unavoidable, and the time, effort, and capital required to build another TR functionally eliminates that option. Leaders want to know: is there a way to extend the distance of their structured cabling systems beyond the 100 m standard without sacrificing performance and quality?
It is possible to do so, though not without careful consideration of the factors impacting transmission performance and the potential impacts of customization of standard structured cabling solutions. In this white paper, we will explore the situations in which it is possible to achieve extended distances with structured cabling, as well as the limitations of those channels long-term. We will then make a case for a future-proofed approach to extended distances, pivoting away from short-term fixes into long-term, sustainable solutions.